The Fall

Tallin, Estonia, March 1933

A senior policeman, Chief Inspector Vaher, is found dead on the roof of a kiosk below Toompea Hill in Tallinn; he has apparently fallen from the viewing balcony 30 metres above. The news is on the front page of a newspaper within a couple of hours.

The viewing platform today.

Chief Inspector Jüri Hallmets is brought in from Estonia’s second city, Tartu, to investigate. Meanwhile reporters Artur Simm and Jaan Kallas are carrying out their own investigations.

Hallmets and his team encounter a widow who’s not mourning, a family who may be up to no good, a right-wing organisation who may be plotting a coup, a lot of vodka whose origin is not clear, some policemen who think they’re above the law, petty criminals and slippery politicians, before they uncover the truth about Vaher’s death. And Simm and Kallas discover that looking for the truth can be dangerous.

And it’s a long way down.

The Fall is a tense thriller set in a time not dissimilar to our own, and concerns a man and a country trying to maintain their integrity in difficult times.